Container latch mechanism

ABSTRACT

A latch mechanism for latching either of two types of containers to a supporting structure. Movement of the mechanism between the unlatched position and the latched position latches to the supporting structure whichever type of container has been placed thereon. The mechanism includes a vertically disposed pivotal member which carries a latch head portion at one end thereof for latching one type of container. Also included in the mechanism is a detent which is arranged to project through an opening in a portion of the supporting structure and into a mating opening in another type of container to latch it in position.

United States Patent [7 2] Inventors Evan Hammond Michigan City; MichaelLapaich, Rolling Prairie, ln [21] Appl. No 770,994 [22] Filed Oct. 28,1968 [45] Patented Feb. 2, 1971 [73] Assignee Clark Equipment Company acorporation of Delaware [54] CONTAINER LATCH MECHANISM 11 Claims, 7Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 248/361, 105/366 [51] Int. Cl ..B65d 19/38, B6ld 45/00 [50]Field of Search 248/361; 292/200, 60; 287/2; l05/366(Cursory), 366.2,366.4, 366.6, 366.8

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,675,033 6/ 1928 Lefkovitz292/60 Primary Examiner-Chancellor E. Harris Attorneys-Kenneth C. Witt,John C. Wiessler, Robert H.

Johnson and Reginald J. Falkowski ABSTRACT: A latch mechanism forlatching either of two types of containers to a supporting structure.Movement of the mechanism between the unlatched position and the latchedposition latches to the supporting structure whichever type of containerhas been placed thereon. The mechanism includes a vertically disposedpivotal member which carries a latch head portion at one end thereof forlatching one type of container. Also included in the mechanism is adetent which is arranged to project through an opening in a portion-ofthe supporting structure and into a mating opening in another type ofcontainer to latch it in position.

PATENTED FEB 2 |97| SHEET 1 BF 3 l N Vii/\l )RS EVAN HAMMOND LAPAICHMICHAEL W.

FIG. I

BY Mam/it ATTORNEY P E EQ FEB awn I ELSE SL943 sums 0F 3 I lNVh'N'lHRSEVAN -,HAMMOND 7 MICHAEL W. LAPAICH ATTORNEY CONTAINER LATCH MECHANISMBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is particularly adaptable foruse in latching shipping containers to conveyances such as semitrailerchassis which are adapted to be pulled over the highway or to railroadcars, but it is adaptable for other purposes as well. It is known thatall shipping containers do not have the same fittings or arrangementsfor latching or otherwise securing them to the conveyances on which theyare to be carried. This makes it desirable for conveyances which will beused to transport containers to have latch mechanisms which willaccommodate more than one type of container. It is the object of thepresent invention to provide a latch mechanism which automatically willaccommodate either of two different types of containers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In carrying out our invention in one preferredform thereof we provide a latch mechanism which includes a framestructure and a vertically disposed pivotal member carried on the framestructure, the pivotal member carrying a latch head portion at one endthereof. Means are provided for pivoting the pivotal member between anunlatched position and a latched position. With one type of containerthe latch head portion engages or overlies a mating portion of thecontainer and secures the container to the frame structure. There is avertically projecting portion on the frame structure having an openingtherethrough; and a detent is provided which extends through the saidopening and into a mating opening in another type of container to securesuch container to the frame structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows a side elevational view ofa latch mechanism in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 shows an end elevational view of the same mechanism after initialpreparation for movement to the latched position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the latch mechanism alongthe line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is another end elevational view similar to FIG. 2, but with aportion of the mechanism turned to a different position;

FIG. 5 is an end view showing the latch mechanism turned to the latchedposition for one type of container;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5, but shows further movement to accomplishlatching of another type of container; and

FIG. 7 shows a top plan view which illustrates the mating latching partsof both types container DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Thepreferred embodiment of the invention described and illustrated hereinis for use in latching to a conveyance or other supporting structureeither a USASI (United States of America Standards Institute) 20 footcontainer which is 20 feet long, 8 feet high, and 8 feet wide, or the 24foot container which is utilized by the Matson Navigation Company whichis 24 feet long, 8 and 9% feet high and 8 feet wide. It will be readilyrecognized, however, that the present latch mechanism can be utilizedwith equal facility with other containers.

The latch mechanism shown also may be utilized as a guide for locatingthe container on the supporting structure, but this is an optionalfeature and may be omitted if desired. However, this additional featureshould be kept in mind as it will facilitate an understanding of thecomplete mechanism as disclosed herein.

In the drawing the latch mechanism of this invention is indicatedgenerally by the numeral 10. As shown, the mechanism 10 is mounted uponand partially within a bolster member indicated by the numeral 12. Suchbolster may be, for example, a transversely extending frame or supportmember forming a portion of a semitrailer chassis adapted to transportcontainers over the highway. However, it will be understood that thisinvention is not limited to use with such a bolster member. The latchmechanism of this invention may be mounted on any suitable frame orother structural member. and reference to frame" in some of the claimsincludes any such structural member.

The latch mechanism 10 as shown in FIG. 1 in the unlatched position andin the embodiment illustrated also serves in this position as a guide toassist in locating the container when it is deposited on the bolster Thelatch mechanism includes a vertically disposed pintle member 14 whichextends through openings in the upper and lower walls, or top andbottom, of bolster l2, and is pivotal about its vertically disposed axisthrough an angle of approximately At the top of pintle 14 it is providedwith a latch head portion 16 which may be formed integrally with thepintle member, but in any event is rigidly secure thereto. At the bottoma lock nut 18 or equivalent means is utilized to secure the pintlemember in position on the bolster 12. The pintle member 14 extends upthrough a spacer or collar member 20 which is rigidly secured to theupper surface of bolster l2, and the purpose of this spacer is explainedhereinafter.

As viewed in FIG. 1, the left margin of the bolster 12 is considered asthe outer end thereof and is so referred to in this description. At suchouter end the bolster includes a plate 22 which is preferably welded tothe remainder of bolster 12 and thereby forms an integral part thereof.As seen in FIG. 2, the endplate 22 has a horizontal slot 24 whichextends from the right edge (as seen in this view) into and a littlepast the center, that is, a little past a horizontal centerline throughthe pintle 14 which is indicated by the numeral 27 and extendslongitudinally through the bolster. The slot 24 extends enough past thecenterline 27 to permit an operating member or rod 26 to extendlongitudinally of the bolster through such slot, and through a suitableopening 13 in the pintle member 14; and in the position of FIG. I therod 26 extends on through an opening 29 in a transverse brace member 28extending between the upper and lower walls of the bolster member. Thebrace member 28 has a key slot 30 therein at approximately a 55 anglewith the vertical as indicated in the fragmentary view of FIG. 3. A pin32 extends through rod 26, and a compression spring 34 is provided tourge the outer end of rod 26 which carries the pin 32 away from pintle14 at all times.

In the position of FIG. 1, the pin 32 is beyond the brace 28 and holds aplate or stop member 36, which is rigidly secured to rod 26, against theend of the bolster. The spacing between end 22 and brace 28 is such thatstop member 36 is held rigidly against end 22 in this position. Stopmember 36 has an outwardly flared portion 38 at the upper end thereof asseen in FIG. 1 which may serve as a guide for a container being loweredonto the bolster 12. If the guide feature is not needed, portion 38 canbe omitted and pin 32 in the rod 26 and the slot 30 in the brace 28likewise can be omitted because it is the pin 32 bearing against thebrace 28 which holds guide portion 38 rigidly in position so that itwill function as a guide and move the edge of the container toward thedesired location as it is lowered onto the bolster. It is important,however, to retain brace member 28 or its equivalent and opening 29therein because when rod 26 is positioned in opening 29 the operator canthen be assured that latch head portion 16 is in the proper position toreceive a container; if it were not for such an alignment arrangement itwould be possible for the latch head portion 16 to be turned about theaxis of pintle 14 through an angle from the proper unlatched positionillustrated in the drawing with the result that the latch head portionmight interfere with the placing of a container on the support.

In the embodiment illustrated herein the first action to be taken inorder to move the latch mechanism from the unlatched position of FIG. 1toward the latched position is to turn rod 26 approximately 55counterclockwise as indicated in the end view of FIG. 2. This can beaccomplished by grasping the handle portion 40 which is secured to rod26 and stop 36. When the pin 32 lines up with the key slot 30 (see FIG.3) the rod 26 then can be pulled outwardly of the end of the bolster,that is, to the left in FIG. 1, against the force of spring 34, untilthe pin 32 is beyond brace 28.

During such portion of the operation, a projecting rod or detent member42 which is secured to member 36 will abut the bottom surface of bolster22 as illustrated in FIG. 2. The handle 40 is then pulled out farther sothat detent 42 will clear the end of the bolster and the handle 40 isthen tuned counterclockwise an additional approximately 135 until'member 36 has been inverted as indicated in FIG. 4 of the drawing. Thedetent 42 is utilized to latch a container to a bolster 12 asillustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 of the drawing.

The latching mechanism includes an upwardly projecting portion 43 on oneside of the bolster which preferably is welded to and forms an integralpart of such bolster. and at the top of portion 43 in the formillustrated is a flared portion 45 which like flared portion mentionedpreviously serves as a guide for a container being lowered onto thebolster I2. Like flared portion 38, flared portion 45 is not essentialand may be omitted if desired. In the upper part of the portion 43 butbelow the flared part 45 is an opening 44. Referring to FIG. I it willbe seen that portion 43, like the end of the bolster also has ahorizontal slot, such slot being indicated by the numeral 25 andcommunicating with the slot 24 in the end of the bolster and extendinghorizontally along the bolster sufficiently that the rod 26 can bepivoted from the longitudinal position of FIGv l and FIG. 2approximately 90 to a transversely disposed position as illustrated inFIG. 5. To move the mechanism from the position of FIG. 4 to that ofFIG. the handle 40 is grasped and the rod 26 is moved through the slotportions 24 and 25 in the end and side of the bolster, such movementpivoting pintle 14 approximately 90. It will be appreciated that it isnecessary to pull out on handle 40 to compress spring 34 in order tomove member 36 around the comer of the bolster to the positionillustrated in FIG. 5. When the position of FIG. 5 is reached, theoperator merely releases the handle 40 and the spring 34 acting againstthe pin 32 forces the mechanism into the latched position illustrated inFIG. 6. In this position the detent 42 extends through the member 43 andinto a mating opening in the container thereby holding such container inposition on the bolster. This is illustrated in FIG. 7 of the drawingwhich is actually a partial sectional view from above looking down onthe latching mechanism with the containers in place, but the crosshatching has been omitted for purposes of clarity, and one of thecontainers is shown in dot-dash lines. The comer fitting of a Matsoncontainer is shown in solid lines in FIG. 7 and is indicated by thenumeral 46 and it will be observed that the detent 42 engages an opening48 in the fitting 46 to provide the connection between the container andthe bolster. The Matson comer fitting has an opening 50 which issufficiently large that it is not engaged by the head portion 16 of thepintle member 14 and therefore the turning of such head portion has noeffect on the Matson container.

However, if it is desired to secure a USASI container to the bolster 12it is the head portion 16 which accomplishes this. The USASI container,the corner fitting of which is indicated by the numeral 51, has anopening 52 which is slightly larger than the spacer and of the sameshape, and the thickness of the bottom 53 of corner fitting 51 of theUSASI container is slightly less than the height of spacer 20 and issuch that when the pintle member is turned so that the head portion 16is in the position illustrated in FIG. 7 and overlies bottom portion 53the container is secured to the bolster. If further information isdesired as to the manner in which such latching is accomplished,reference may be had to US. Pat. No. 2,963,310, particularly FIGS. 8through 11 of such patent, which illustrate the operation of a similarlatch for a USASI type container only, not including the featuresprovided herein for optionally using a dual-purpose mechanism forlatching a Matson container.

The housing 54 on the side of the bolster is to protect rod 26, pin 32and spring 34 in the latched position, and the housing also helps toguide the rod 26 into the proper position to secure and maintain properalignment of the mechanism in the latched position.

It will be readily understood that this latch mechanism can be movedfrom the latched to the unlatched position by the reverse of theprocedure described herein, and it is believed that no detaileddescription of this is necessary. However, the importance of theposition illustrated in FIG. 2 should be mentioned in connection withthe movement to the unlatched position. The fact that detent 42 abutsthe bottom of bolster 22 when pin 32 lines up with slot 30 is important.It will be appreciated that the operator cannot see pin 32 and slot 30when he is operating the mechanism, but the arrangement mentioned, plusthe location of the left end of slot 24 (as seen in FIG. 2) to align rod26 with opening 29 in the brace 28,makes it possible readily to securethe necessary alignment of both the rod 26 and the pin 32 to move themechanism back to the position of FIG. 1. While a definite angle hasbeen specified herein in connection with the location of slot 30 it willbe readily apparent that this angle may vary depending upon thethickness of the bolster 22 or more specifically how far below axis 27the bottom of the bolster 22 is located and also the relative locationof detent 42. The angles given herein are for purposes of illustrationonly.

While we have described and illustrated herein a preferred embodiment ofour invention in accordance with the statutes, it will be appreciatedthat modifications may be made. Therefore, it should be understood thatwe intend to cover by the appended claims all such modifications whichfall within the true spirit and scope of our invention.

We claim:

1. A latch mechanism comprising a frame structure, a vertically disposedpivotal member carried on the frame structure, a latch portion at oneend of said pivoted member, means for pivoting the said pivotal memberbetween an unlatched position and a latched position comprising anoperating member and slot in the said frame structure through which thesaid operating member moves, the said frame structure having an openingtherethrough separate from the said slot, and a detent carried on thesaid operating member which extends through the said opening in thelatched position.

2. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 1 in which additional meansare provided for releasably holding the mechanism rigidly in theunlatched position.

3. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 1 in which means are providedfor releasably holding the said latch mechanism in the latched position.

4. A latch mechanism comprising a frame structure having top and bottomwalls, an end wall and a sidewall, the said top and bottom walls havingvertically aligned openings therein, a vertically disposed pintle membercarried by the said frame structure and extending through the saidopenings, a latch head portion at the top end of said pintle member, thesaid pintle member having a horizontally disposed opening therethrough,a rod extending through the said opening and arranged for pivoting thesaid pintle member between an unlatched position and a latched position,the said side and end walls having slot portions through which the saidrod member passes as it moves between unlatched and latched positions, avertically projecting portion on the said frame structure having anopening therethrough separate from the said slot portions, and a detentcarried by the said rod which extends through the said last mentionedopening in the latched position.

5. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 4 in which the said rod hassecured thereto a stop member which abuts the end of the frame structurein the unlatched position and the side of the frame structure in thelatched position.

6. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 5 in which the said rod hasassociated therewith a spring which urges the said stop member towardthe said frame structure.

7. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 5 in which the said stopmember has a guide portion thereon which projects upwardly above theframe structure in the unlatched position.

8. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 5 in which the said stopmember has a handle portion secured thereto.

structure through which the said pin may pass.

IL A latch mechanism as specified in claim 4 in which the saidvertically projecting portion on the frame structure has a guide portionthereon which projects upwardly above the frame structure.

1. A latch mechanism comprising a frame structure, a vertically disposedpivotal member carried on the frame structure, a latch portion at oneend of said pivoted member, means for pivoting the said pivotal memberbetween an unlatched position and a latched position comprising anoperating member and slot in the said frame structure through which thesaid operating member moves, the said frame structure having an openingtherethrough separate from the said slot, and a detent carried on thesaid operating member which extends through the said opening in thelatched position.
 2. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 1 in whichadditional means are provided for releasably holding the mechanismrigidly in the unlatched position.
 3. A latch mechanism as specified inclaim 1 in which means are provided for releasably holding the saidlatch mechanism in the latched position.
 4. A latch mechanism comprisinga frame structure having top and bottom walls, an end wall and asidewall, the said top and bottom walls having vertically alignedopenings therein, a vertically disposed pintle member carried by thesaid frame structure and extending through the said openings, a latchhead portion at the top end of said pintle member, the said pintlemember having a horizontally disposed opening therethrough, a rodextending through the said opening and arranged for pivoting the saidpintle member between an unlatched position and a latched position, thesaid side and end walls having slot portions through which the said rodmember passes as it moves between unlatched and latched positions, avertically projecting portion on the said frame structure having anopening therethrough separate from the said slot portions, and a detentcarried by the said rod which extends through the said last mentionedopening in the latched position.
 5. A latch mechanism as specified inclaim 4 in which the said rod has secured thereto a stop member whichabuts the end of the frame structure in the unlatched position and theside of the frame structure in the latched position.
 6. A latchmechanism as specified in claim 5 in which the said rod has associatedtherewith a spring which urges the said stop member toward the saidframe structure.
 7. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 5 in whichthe said stop member has a guide portion thereon which projects upwardlyabove the frame structure in the unlatched position.
 8. A latchmechanism as specified in claim 5 in which the said stop member has ahandle portion secured thereto.
 9. A latch mechanism as specified inclaim 7 in which the inner end of the said rod member has means thereonfor releasably connecting the rod to the said frame structure.
 10. Alatch mechanism as specified in claim 9 in which the said releasablemechanism comprises a transverse pin through the rod and a key slot in abrace member of the said frame structure through which the said pin maypass.
 11. A latch mechanism as specified in claim 4 in which the saidvertically projecting portion on the frame structure has a guide portionthereon which projects upwardly above the frame structure.